The final week passes slowly and in a relaxed manner, as we take everything more calmly. We swim a bit in the pool and have our fun, but on the day the battle begins, something strange happens. The Demon King did not appear in the capital, as we had suspected, but twenty kilometers away in some ruins. He is guarded by four Shields—demons who each possess a quarter of the Demon King's power.
I immediately have an idea of how to defeat him. We head to the aforementioned ruins to vanquish the Demon King. People are living in fear and terror because of this being; it cannot continue this way. After an hour, we arrive at the ruins. All that can be seen is a giant shadow that looks like a dragon, only larger and more threatening. At the exact moment we arrive, the King sends the army to help us. They could take on one of the Shields. It's best if we wait until they arrive. Since I discussed this with the King again, I explain the entire plan to the others. We sit under a tree so the Demon King doesn't notice us. After another two hours, the army finally arrives. I greet the commander directly.
"Okay, you take on one of the Shields. Two from my group will support you per Shield, and I will take on the Demon King myself."
The plan is fully set, and everyone nods in agreement. Although I don't expect them to be able to kill the Shields, I will at least gain enough time to implement my plan. Milo and Suri, Luna and Lilly, as well as Kira and Lisa—these are the teams against the Demon King's Shields. I walk toward the large, dragon-like shadow while everyone else heads toward the Shields guarding every cardinal direction. We all reach our respective opponents without any problems.
"Oh, so the Demon King really is a flying lizard."
I look into the air with confident eyes, where the Demon King is circling. A raspy chuckle suddenly comes from his mouth.
"And now even a speaking, flying lizard."
"Wait a moment, little human!"
The dragon begins to reshape itself—into a five-meter-tall man with a muscular build and a small mustache. He begins to laugh with a raspy voice.
"Fine, I'll get straight to the point, Demon King. If I hit you once, you will cooperate with me, okay?"
I look at the Demon King, who crosses his arms, but he gives a brief nod.
"Fine, what is this about?"
The Demon King looks at me suspiciously despite the nod, even though I have no evil intentions. I explain everything I have planned to him. However, his fear of the Demon God Kronos seems to be so great that he does not agree immediately. Well, actually, I already know the outcome of this fight anyway. I will hit him eventually and implement the plan. I will definitely not lose. I begin to grin, just as the Demon King does at the same moment. He prepares for battle, but I first just run toward him. Meanwhile, the others are fighting with full strength against the Shields. I run around him to confuse him a bit, but he does not let himself be irritated. He tries to hit me, but I am still too fast for him. It does me no good if he doesn't grow weaker because of it. I run up his arm, but instead of attacking him there, I stop, as he has protection.
I am just about to take my daggers when my magical aura unfolds completely. The entire country is now enveloped in my magical aura. Everyone in the country who can see mana begins to feel afraid—afraid that it might be the Demon King.
"Stop... too... much... too much mana!"
The Demon King falls to his knees. The mana was too much for him. Even I wouldn't have expected that, especially since I was still holding back my desire to injure. I jump off his body and sit on a stone pillar near the ruins. All the Shields are lying unconscious on the ground, as is the army. Only the others from my group are still conscious.
"Good, now for the deal," I say.
"Yes, as agreed, you may do it," the Demon King replies.
I raise my hand.
"Delete."
This word triggers something in the world that no one ever thought possible. My status opens, and the two-thirds deletions become one-third deletions. I close my status again and look around. Nothing has been noticed yet regarding what happened.
"Only my friends and you know about this. So, we will see if it really worked. But beware of the gods; they probably won't be so easily changeable."
I go back to our meeting point and say goodbye to the Demon King, who only waves back with a smile. We all meet again in front of the ruins.
"Did everything work out?"
Milo looks at me with a smile, while the others talk about my mana again and make jokes about it. We return to the capital, where the dynamic is different in a strange way. People are nicer than before. There are no quarrels between humans and beast-kin. It looks the same in Lagoon. No matter where you are, there is peace everywhere.
"Min, it seems to have worked! No matter where we teleport, there is peace," Lilly says enthusiastically as we teleport back into the house.
"Yes, it's true. The deletion of hatred worked."
I make us all a small cake made of sugar and apples. We sit outside to enjoy the rest of the day, which goes well. First a day passes, then a month, and soon a year has gone by since complete peace has been in the world. But that still doesn't mean that the gods are manipulable. We are currently in the process of building our own magic school. I get the permission, and the others are already picking out a suitable area for the construction. Despite the size of the capital, there is no magic school or even a general school here. Parents teach their children everything, but there is no compulsory schooling. Since schools are supposed to be fun, ours is designed to be a bit more amusing—we place more value on the fun of learning rather than on the learning itself. I had such a system established specifically for us.
I go to the place where we want to build the school building. No matter where I look, there is pure peace. One might find it boring, but peace is better than violence. I arrive at the plot of land where the basic framework of the school already stands. I show them the permit that we can teach the way we planned. We had received the land as a thank you for stopping the Demon King. This is practical for our plans. In the future, we need more people who can resist God Monsters. Barely a week passes until we finally have the school finished. The King stops by to take a look at it.
"Min, couldn't you have done it with magic?"
The King looks at me while occasionally glancing at the school. I nod.
"Yes, I could have, but I don't want to rely too much on magic. But I did create the barrier with magic."
The huge school stretches out before us, and a powerful barrier shimmers around it. The school has about four floors for twenty classes each, divided into A and B. We first considered adding a C-class, but that would have cost about thirty more gold coins. Each floor already cost thirty gold coins. For a total of thirty classes and the necessary specialized rooms, five or six floors would have been required. This way, at least there are only four. There are about twelve rooms per floor. The first two floors consist only of classrooms where students have lockers for their things. On the third and fourth floors are the staff rooms, the secretary's office, the main office, the specialized rooms, and the infirmary. In the attic are mana crystals that the students must refill every month to strengthen their mana—the most important point in a magic school.
I lead the King through the school, which only a month later receives the world record for the largest and most creative school in the world. The school is running well. Every now and then, we want to go on school trips or expand the fun factor. Then we suggest to the parents whether they would like to contribute something, as we otherwise never charge money. After a total of three months, we already have twenty teachers, one per class. Our school has no grading system, but only a strength system. Everything below 1,000 points corresponds to a typical grade of six, and so it goes higher and higher. The higher the value, the better the grade. But actually, the grades are only for show, because no matter how good or bad you are in school—what matters is how you perform afterward. We simply teach the students how to learn best. Nevertheless, we had to make ten grade levels, because otherwise it would not have been approved.
A few more weeks pass, during which the students show more and more that school can be fun as long as you do it right. Time in the city moves faster and faster without any major incidents occurring. Meanwhile, nine months have passed since the event, and everyone has slowly recovered from the tension. At least I hope so, because through all this peace, people also seem to no longer be afraid of anything. Is that really a good thing? At least as long as they don't become too reckless.
The girl we rescued a few years ago has also grown a bit older by now and finally wanted to join the guild. She asked me yesterday, and I agreed, as she is now old enough for it. I then gave her a first mission: she is to take out five goblins. Since she is a bit stronger than Milo was back then, she should manage it. The days go by. What I noticed during this time: Goblins are the only living beings that were spared from the deletion. Otherwise, there are no more monsters that are evil or want to harm humans.
We are all sitting at the dining table, talking about the gods again.
"Why aren't the gods intervening?" Suri asks worriedly.
"It could be that they are plotting something or trying to lull us into a sense of security. But they will surely come soon, so stay on your guard at all times," I reply.
Suri is rightfully worried; after all, our enemy is a supernatural being, even several. I am now certain that they are becoming stronger; otherwise, they would never need so long for preparation.
"Heehee, the boy really isn't stupid."
Freyja looks at me through a crystal ball, her face adorned with a disgusting look—she seems to be getting off on the idea of killing me. The other gods are still relaxing a bit before the war with me and my friends; none of them are tense.
"It's just a shame he doesn't know our new power exactly. Kronos has a power of 250,800,200, Mina 100,440,610, Thor 200,950,500, Ignis 300,201,400, and then Galaktika with 4,200,700,600. And finally, me with 600,401,000. Min is just a demigod; that is nothing against us."
Freyja now looks arrogantly at the crystal ball, and all the other gods start laughing. Suddenly, I point in the direction of the gods.
"You've been there for years, haven't you?"
The gods freeze. I create a black-purple-red flame and fire it at the gods' spying device. The gods begin to wonder why I didn't do it sooner.
"Good, then let's get back to training. Are you ready?"
Everyone nods in agreement, and I look at the ceiling confidently and full of bloodlust.
„I'am the nightmare of gods."